Rau posed for Playboy once before, in the May 2014 special edition of Playboy A-Z. "It's how I celebrated my coming out, actually," she told the magazine. "I took that chance, and then I signed with an agency."

The 26-year-old has also starred in a Balmain ad campaign and posed for Vogue Italia, according to People. But she told Playboy that being named a Playmate is a good way to speak her own truth.

"When I was doing this shoot, I was thinking of all those hard days in my childhood," she said in the magazine. "And now everything happening gives me so much joy and happiness. I thought, 'Am I really going to be a Playmate – me?' It's the most beautiful compliment I've ever received. It's like getting a giant bouquet of roses."

Though Rau is the first transgender Playmate, she isn't the first transgender model to be featured in Playboy. The first was Tula, who appeared in the September 1991 issue.

Caroline Cossey, who went by the name Tula as a model, said Playboy offered to photograph her after she was outed, which at the time threatened her career, and ran the photos despite advertiser pressure.

"[Hugh] Hefner once said that life is too short to be living someone else's dream and I think it spoke loudly of how respectful he was of the individuality of others," she told the Huffington Post. "He certainly was with me."

Cooper Hefner, son of the late Hugh Hefner and current chief creative officer of Playboy, tweeted Wednesday (October 18) that the magazine, and society at large should "be fighting for a more open world, not one that promotes hatred and a lack of acceptance".

We should collectively be fighting for a more open world, not one that promotes hatred and a lack of acceptance.